Crash
by MissBubbles
Summary: One day, everyone is going to figure out who John is. One day, maybe he'll figure it out himself.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I started writing this story years ago and have suddenly decided that I need to start uploading it. The plan is to tell the story in two parts. This first part should be about ten chapters long and is set during the events of the third film. I'm doing my absolute best to keep things in canon with the movie-verse, but as I started writing a long time before X-Men Origins: Wolverine came out it's possible a discrepancy will creep in here or there. I'm rating it a T because John has bad manners.

**1.**

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Wasn't that what they said?

The lone guard fell to cinders at Pyro's feet and the shadow of a sneer fell with him. John swallowed, claiming self-defence: the guard had been the one pointing the gun. The little voice inside his head that sounded like Rogue told him otherwise.

Pyro told John to stop listening to that bitch and get on with the job.

Another burst of flames threw the reinforced door from its hinges and left a jagged black hole in its place, gaping wide and hungry for fresh meat. John stared into the darkness and the mutant inside of him whispered of chains and pain and fear.

'We should stay together; we don't know what's in there.'

John imagined Callisto behind him, with her hateful eyes and misplaced self-importance. He stepped into the broken cavity of the wall without acknowledging her, his boots crunching on blacken shards of metal and concrete. He paused for a moment.

'Mutants?' He flicked his gaze back to Callisto for a second. She looked pissed-off, which made him smirk.

'Two. One class four. The other...three-ish.'

John scowled. 'Three-_ish_? Well thanks for coming along, you've been a great help.' He ignored any retort she may have tried to make and moved further into the darkness. A short way ahead the corridor forked. John turned right but two steps forward his instincts dug their heels in.

'Pyro!' He stopped, but not because Callisto wanted him to. He doubted that her concern was for him. 'We should stay together. Let's take the class four first.' She moved towards the passage that forked left, as though expecting Pyro to follow. Gritting his teeth against the irritation her assumption raised in him, John felt the urge to follow the right passage rumble inside of him. There was something down there that he couldn't ignore; something he couldn't leave to its terrible fate.

'What's wrong, don't think you can handle them on your own?' If he had been anyone else, Callisto would have broken his jaw.

'I can take this one without your help.'

'Good, you do that. I'm going this way.'

She didn't argue, which probably had more to do with pride than respect. They parted ways without a backward glance.

Five minutes into the darkness and Pyro began to sense that something was seriously wrong. Every step forward was filled with dread and doubt and the overwhelming urge to turn around and run.

He stopped.

His senses hummed a warning.

And then he was running – not back, but forwards – instinctual fear suffocated by adrenaline and rage. Someone screamed up ahead and he sped up, skidding to a halt at the end of the corridor, flames in his fists. It took him only a moment to assess the scene before him: two hulking guards and the staggering mess they were chasing. The skinny slip of a thing had somehow managed to give one of the men a bloody nose, but she was faring less well now. One of the guards – the bloody one – knocked her to the floor with enough force to break bones and dug a heavy boot into her ribcage when she was down.

His scream of terror as he was engulfed in flames did not grace Pyro's ears.

Ashes to ashes…

The second guard turned his gun on Pyro, but fear and panic caused him to empty half a cartridge without thinking to aim. The second half of the cartridge was rendered useless when the crumpled creature at his feet kicked the gun out of his hand and Pyro reduced him to ash before it even occurred to him that he could have spared his life.

Dust to dust.

John swallowed back bile at the thought and let it burn, the way everything else around him seemed to. He looked down at the captive, still sprawled on the floor and breathing hard. Pale eyes watched him, wild with something that wasn't fear. He turned away, unnerved despite himself. He could still hear the fire roaring in his ears; gnawing at his fingers. He was burning up.

'Who the hell are you?'

He smirked to hide his fear and glanced back over his shoulder at her. 'That's not much of a thank you.'

Gritting her teeth against his sarcasm, she pushed herself off the floor and John noticed the way her eyes creased at the corners as she jarred bruised ribs. She choked on air drawn too quickly into a cracked chest cavity and he thought to ask if she was alright, before realising that he didn't give a damn. The girl managed to steady herself against the wall without his help. After a moment she fixed him with steely eyes that tried to tear to pieces.

'What do you want?'

John sniffed at the question and threw his sarcasm over his shoulder as he turned to go back the way he'd come: 'You're welcome.' He didn't bother to walk at a speed that would allow her to keep up.

The urge to rip the building apart from the inside out itched at his fingertips.

'Wait!'

He glanced back and found himself staring at her without really seeing her. He closed his eyes for a moment - just a moment - and then looked at her again.

'What's your name?' It was a careless question – one that he asked out of habit rather than interest.

She paused for a moment before answering. 'Vixen.'

He scoffed. 'That the best you could come up with?'

'I didn't come up with it.' Her voice was flat and cold but her eyes flashed in the half light. There was something untamed behind them, growling beneath the surface. She was daring him to say something but he didn't rise to it; he wasn't sure why.

He smiled when she looked away. There was anger behind those eyes – and naivety – even if she hid it well.

'What brings you to a place like this, Vixen?' The words were meant to irritate. She turned back and surveyed him with narrowed eyes that made him stiffen.

'Who the Hell are you?'

'Pyro.' That answer was another habit he'd gotten into since joining Magneto and for the briefest of moments it was Erik Lehnsherr's face he was looking into, answering a question he didn't understand with a name he wasn't certain of.

This time it was her turn to smile. 'What's your real name, Pyro?'

John's blood went cold, but before he had a chance to make sense of what she'd said Vixen had turned and disappeared around the corner, heading back the way he had come. His brain jolted into action and he lurched forward, catching up with her quickly. He wondered why he was the one that always ended up following .

'Wait.' He reached out to grab her shoulder but she'd stopped and turned to face him before he'd even spoken. His hand fell away and he stared, disorientated. She waited for him to say something. He drew a blank and swore under his breath. Not knowing how else to save himself he shoved past and took the lead, unwilling to pursue her any further. She didn't seem to mind, falling into pace a few steps behind him. A natural follower: perfect Brotherhood material.

This time it was Iceman's voice telling him that he shouldn't assume too much, but Pyro wasn't going to start listening to him any time soon.

They reached the fork where he and Callisto had split-up and Vixen stopped, somehow seeing Callisto before he did. She wasn't fool enough to walk into the arms of a stranger who looked like she wanted to kill something as soon as she was given the chance.

'So you're who we're waitin' for.' The accent was tinged with cynicism and John scowled as he turned to look at the speaker. Eyes that flashed red in the dim light stared back, a wicked grin playing on the taller man's mouth. He was older than John, although his exact age was difficult to guess at.

John's jaw clenched. 'And you are?'

'Remy Lebeau. And he's late...again.' Vixen was lingering in the shadows, looking at the older man with an unreadable expression. Remy pulled a face that was somewhere between a frown and a smirk and leant back against the charred wall.

'Yer one ta talk, Belle.'

'I thought your name was Vixen?'

She didn't even turn a cold glare in Pyro's direction; that pissed him off.

'That's the name you asked for.'

Tension hung in the air, ready to snap at the slightest movement. Callisto was watching the whole exchange with a muted satisfaction that made Pyro's scowl deepen: it was never this difficult with Magneto around.

Remy broke the silence: 'In that case, I'm Gambit. Pleased ta meet ya.' He pushed off from the wall and brushed past, heading for the gaping hole of a doorway.

'Hang on a minute.' Callisto had blocked Gambit's path before Pyro even noticed her move. For a moment the older mutant actually looked surprised, but then he laughed and turned back to the girl still standing stoic in the half-light.

'Looks like these kids want somethin' from us, Belle.'

Pyro open his mouth to say something but Callisto spoke over him.

'These _kids_ just saved your asses. So why don't you take a step back and offer up some gratitude before you go.'

Pyro's teeth clashed closed and he glared at Callisto so hard that he knew she noticed, even though she failed to acknowledge him. Gambit was looking at her too, although his expression wasn't as easy to read. He tilted his head slightly and spoke to Vixen without looking at her.

'Belle?' It was a question without words. John glanced over his shoulder and found Vixen watching the whole exchange without interest. She caught his gaze and held it and John stiffened again, expecting something that didn't happen. Vixen turned her grey gaze to Remy.

'They're not the ones we need to worry about.'

Pyro finally managed to subdue his growing desire to kill everyone in the corridor and caught their attention with a flare aimed at the floor. All eyes turned to him.

'What the fuck are you talking about?'

Vixen looked put out by his words, which was what he'd hoped for. She tilted her mouth into a half-smile that matched most of the scowls and smirks he spared for her since they'd met.

'I'm talking about the six or seven armed bastards that are going to start shooting at us in, let's say, ten seconds.

Gambit swore. Distracted, John turned to look at him and took a breath to say something, but the air was knocked out of him as Vixen shoved him to the floor. She landed on top of him and he gasped for breath, grabbing blindly at her body. He pushed her off and pinned her down, blinking his vision clear and glaring at her. She was staring wildly into the dark corridor ahead of them.

The wall where he'd been standing a moment before exploded, sending shards of plaster and concrete showering down on them. John's insides went cold again with the feeling that he should be dead. Vixen took the chance to knee him in the stomach and push him off of her.

'Move!' She sprang to her feet with the kind of agility he had witnessed only in cats and acrobats and wolverines throwing themselves off of high-up landings; the fact that her injured ribs should have stopped her moving like that at all hardly occurred to him as he staggered to his own feet and threw a fist full of flame at a combatant he didn't bother to identify. The dark corridor blazed with light and the screams of burning men. He stared, still disorientated from the fall.

A hand closed tight on the back of his shirt. 'Let's go.'

He stumbled as Vixen dragged him backwards with more strength than he'd expected and turned thoughtlessly towards the mess of a door behind them. Callisto had already vacated the area; Gambit was looking at Vixen as though she'd gone mad. Right now, John didn't care about either them.

Magneto wouldn't be happy about this – it was a mess.

Vixen let go of him and shot out into the dark after Gambit, negotiating the rubble with deceptive ease. John stumbled after her and, finally reaching the cover of night, looked for Callisto, whom he'd expected to leave them for dead. She was waiting but probably only out of fear of Magneto and certainly not out of concern for John.

'Go back and explain this!'

She followed the order without question, which was rare, and disappeared in a blur of black clothing and bad temper. Gambit had a hold of Vixen's arm but for some reason she wasn't following him. She glared at Pyro through the darkness with impatience rather than spite.

'You coming?'

He stared and then, without meaning to, nodded. Vixen snatched herself free and turned to run, although not in the direction Gambit wanted. He paused, scowled at John and then followed after her begrudgingly. John let them get a good distance away before putting his fist full of fire to good use. The compound became nothing more than a burning wreck in the darkness and he turned to flee, leaving ashes and dust behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: To avoid confusion, Remy calls Bella 'Belle' because that's the French version of her name. Also, my Bella was around a long time before the other Bella (you know which one I'm talking about), and she was in no way based upon or inspired by that character. My Bella isn't meant to be Bella Donna either. Their shared name is an odd coincidence that may hail back to a subconscious memory of the cartoons from my childhood. The original Bella may make an appearance later on, but the two are entirely separate characters.

**2.**

Keep breathing. Just keep breathing.

Bending double and bracing himself on his knees, John closed his eyes and concentrated on not passing out. His heart was thumping in his ears and his blood was running hot, telling him that he was still alive. It was all he could hear. Behind him, the trail was silent.

He'd survived.

He opened his eyes and straightened up, blinking away the blur of adrenaline and taking in his surroundings. Trees towered over him, fingered branches filtering the pale grey dawn so that he stood in a half-light that made everything look ancient. His boots crunched on dead leaves as he turned to look at the others. Vixen and Gambit had chased one another's shadows away from the burnt-out body of the compound that had been Vixen's prison. John had stumbled after them for more than mile, running scared from imaginary hunters. He'd only stopped because his lungs had started to burn and if he hadn't he would have fallen over. He realised now that he'd been led miles from where they needed to be.

'So, what's tha plan?'

John swallowed down bile and mustered a scowl to throw in Gambit's direction. The older mutant wasn't even out of breath.

'How the fuck should I know?'

Black eyes glimmered red with amusement. 'You're tha leader, aren't ya?'

John's fingers curled around his flamethrower, but Vixen was there before he could even summon the sparks. 'Don't. Going for each other's throats isn't going to help.'

'We'll head back to camp.' Pyro turned on his heel and took a step forward, before faltering. He didn't know this part of the forest; he had to work on instinct alone, only his instinct seemed to have been singed at the edges. He glared at the trees, his throat burning from breathing too hard. He was thirsty.

'Lost?'

He couldn't stand to look at Gambit, because he thought he might kill him if he got a clear shot. 'Shut up.'

Gambit's snicker crackled through his teeth, but Vixen's hand was around John's wrist before could react; always a step ahead of him.

John ripped his arm out of her grasp. 'Don't touch me.' His voice was low, but it shook with anger. Vixen stared at him, her fingers still curled around the air where his wrist had been. Her eyes give him chills and he turned his glare to Gambit instead. 'And you can go to Hell for all I care.'

Something dark flashed in Gambit's eyes and he dipped his hand into the pocket of his trench coat.

'Remy.' Vixen's voice was soft. John's eyes narrowed as he noticed how Gambit stared over her head, scowl softening to a frown. 'He saved my life.'

'Ya didn't need him ta. I was almost there.'

'You're always "almost there". But he _was_ there. That counts for something.'

There was a moment's silence that made John think he was back at school, listening to Iceman and Rogue have one of their arguments. John didn't understand how you could argue without shouting.

Gambit looked uncertain. 'I wouldn't have let them hurt ya, Belle.'

John remembered the bruised mess Vixen had been when he'd found her – a dark shadow still hung around the right side of her face – and thought that Gambit's words weren't worth much. Uncomfortable, he turned away from them and continued walking.

'I'm going back to camp.' He didn't expect them to follow; in fact, he hoped they wouldn't. Magneto's anger was worth being rid of them and the awkward knots they tied in his stomach. But he heard footsteps, soft and steady behind him, and behind those another pair of boots, heavier and less willing but following none the less. John wondered what it was that stopped Gambit from leaving this strange shadow of a girl, when it was clear that he wanted to turn around and walk away from the pale face and pale eyes that pulled at your insides and made your blood run cold.

Dirt and dead leaves shifted beneath three pairs of boots that had nowhere to go but back.

_XXX_

'You're late.' Magneto was standing in the dappled circle of sunlight that filtered through the leaf strewn skylight of the bunker. He had his arms folded across his chest, like a teacher scolding his pupil for bad punctuality. John had always hated teachers.

'Not my fault.' He knew he shouldn't snap at Magneto: his life wasn't worth enough. But after three hours of traipsing through a forest with two mutants who he'd decided had been sent by some divine power with the lone purpose of pissing him off as much as possible, he was not in the mood for Magneto's reprimands. His boots clanged against the metal steps and Magneto frowned, saying nothing.

John glared over his shoulder to avoid looking in Magneto's eyes. Gambit was following him down the steps with Vixen at his heel. The silent stare Magneto was giving him asked for an explanation.

'We circled around to avoid leading anyone to the camp – had to go further than I thought we would.' Pyro wasn't going to admit that he'd blundered through the forest for almost an hour before Vixen pointed out that they were heading towards the main highway into San Francisco, which didn't seem like the most intelligent place to set up a secret encampment. Gambit had already given him enough grief about it.

He got the feeling that Magneto didn't believe his cover story, but apparently he didn't care enough to challenge it. He turned his attention to the other two mutants now filling the gloomy space at the bottom of the steel stairs instead. 'And you are?'

'Depends who's asking.' Gambit was still in front and Vixen seemed content to hide in his shadow. Her pale eyes gleamed in the gloom like a wolf watching and waiting. John felt his fingers prickling in the quiet that followed the challenge.

For once he tried to diffuse the situation, because there was a small part of St John left in him that felt afraid of the unknown. 'Gambit and Vixen. We picked them up at the containment facility.'

Magneto glanced John's way for just a moment. 'The facility?'

'No longer a problem.'

Magneto nodded, pleased and John bristled with the pride that came with approval. His gaze lingered on Magneto as the older mutant turned his gaze back to the others, wondering why Professor X had never been able to show the same respect for John's power.

'So, what talents do you two have to offer?'

Vixen was restless. She was shifting in the shadows behind Gambit and the movement caught Magneto's attention. His gaze slipped towards her pale eyes, flashing cold and hard in the half-light.

Her jaw clenched around wary words. 'What's it ta you?'

Magneto looked torn between amusement and annoyance. 'What's your name again?' He studied her with eyes shaded black by shadows, his mouth tilted upwards into an expression that wasn't quite a smile.

Her face gave nothing away, but she pressed her lips together when the question was asked, trying to hide nerves behind a boldness she didn't feel. John recognised the expression well.

'Like he said,' she tilted her head towards John, 'I'm Vixen.'

Magneto stood still and silent, and studied her so closely that even John began to feel uncomfortable. Vixen didn't waver. Magneto's not-quite smile grew larger and colder.

'I'm sure you are…'

_XXX_

'Why are we still here, Belle?'

She had her eyes shut tight against the midday sky, lying flat on her back between the trees. Her ears were full of sounds she shouldn't be able to hear: leaves shaking in a barely-there breeze, dirt shifting beneath feet that fell a mile away. She breathed deep and opened her eyes, squinting in the dappled sunlight that fell through the spider web of leaves above her.

'Because we don't have anywhere else to go.' She couldn't look at Remy because he was making her feel like a fool. She could hear him though, shifting where he stood, making the folds of his trench coat whisper. Then there was the jumbled hush of a box of matches and the snap of fire brought to life at his fingertips. Bella inhaled the sulphuric smell of smoke as it drifted towards her from the end of Remy's cigarette.

'I don't trust 'em.'

'You don't trust anyone,' Bella was still staring skyward.

'I have good reason not ta.'

Her insides twisted with an animal anger that she couldn't control. She clenched her jaw and breathed deep. 'It can't be worse than it was before.'

'We were doin' alright by ourselves.' Remy sounded distracted; only half there.

Bella glared at the sky and tried to quash the urge to claw out his eyes. 'If you say so.'

Remy was itching with energy. Bella was still lying on her back but she stiffened, muscles coiled and ready to spring into the action at any moment. It was in her nature to be prepared, and sometimes she forgot whose side Remy was on.

'Belle, this is stupid. Ya ain't ever been afraid before.'

She gritted her teeth, her guts twisting, because he clearly didn't know her that well. 'I've always been afraid.' She pushed herself upright and turned to look at Remy, twisting her ribs and pulling them back into pain. She didn't flinch. Remy's expression hadn't changed, which only served to make her angrier. 'And after being locked up and knocked about for three days because of a man I barely know, I've started seeing things differently.'

Remy had grace enough to look guilty. 'Belle, I'm sorry I screwed up. But stayin' here ain't goin' ta keep ya safe. It's goin' ta get ya inta trouble.'

'I'm sick of running, Remy.'

His jaw tightened and he flicked his cigarette into the dry bracken at his feet, snuffing it out with his boot before it caught fire. Bella knew she'd won.

'I'm not gonna leave ya, Belle, but I don't like bein' here.'

'I'm not asking you to like it.' She stood up and brushed loose bracken off her clothes, before walking past Remy towards the bunker's entrance. She saw Callisto coming long before she cut across their path in a flash that no one could have predicted. Bella stopped so suddenly that Remy bumped into her.

Callisto smirked. 'That's a nice trick – knowing what I'm going to do before I do it.'

Bella kept her gaze hard and cold.

Callisto's smirk fell flat. 'You better be careful – I might catch you out one of these days.'

'I doubt it.' Bella stepped around the other woman and carried on towards the bunker where Pyro was waiting, twisting fire around his fingertips and watching them from the corner of his eye.

'So, you in or what?' He extinguished the flames at his fingertips and glanced at Callisto over Bella's shoulder. It wasn't a friendly look. His gaze slid back to Bella.

'For now.'

'That's not good enough. If you're in, you're in. There's no backing out.'

'We're in.' Bella sounded more certain than she felt and behind her Remy stayed stubbornly silent. Pyro smirked, less malevolent than before, but only slightly.

'Good.'

This wasn't about right or wrong anymore, it was about survival.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Many thanks to my reviewers. Unfortunately I'm unable to access the review reply facility through my account at the moment, so I can't respond to you individually, but I really appreciate all and any feedback I am given and thank you for taking the time to let me know what you think!

**3.**

It was all about timing really.

Bella ducked the fist that swung towards her face and caught hold of her attacker's wrist. She twisted hard and felt bones break beneath her fingers, before burying her knee in his ribcage. His breath left him in a grunt as he landed in the dirt.

It had become a favourite pastime of the campers to pick fights with her for the fun of seeing who would win, but so far no one had escaped without a broken bone or two. A few had gathered to watch this most recent fight with muted interest and the looks she was graced with were sour. Callisto, scowling from a distance, had taken a particular dislike to Bella for reasons neither of them really understood and had rallied half the Brotherhood to her cause. It was a reaction Bella often evoked in people she barely knew; one she put down to bad blood and bad manners.

She turned away from the groaning heap at her feet and made for the cover of the trees. She'd escaped the prying eyes of the other campers before a hand closed around her arm, pulling her back. She jumped, twisting to see who had caught her so easily.

'How d'you do it?' For once Pyro actually looked interested and when he wasn't scowling or glowering he looked younger; far younger than she'd thought he was. She bit down on her tongue to stop herself from answering and breathed in sharply. Chills twisted up her arm from where he held onto to her, the hard grasp of his fingers reminding her of someone else.

'Why would I tell you?' She sounded bolder than she felt and Pyro's eyes narrowed with irritation.

'You wanna know how she does it?' Callisto's voice made Vixen bite back a growl. Pyro threw his gaze over his shoulder, but he kept hold of Bella's wrist and didn't look pleased with Callisto's interference. 'Vixen sees through time – you know, like foresight. It's why she fights so well: she knows what you're going to do, even before you know it.'

Pyro didn't like Callisto, but she seemed to have her uses. He offered her no thanks but when he looked back at Bella his eyes glimmered with interest. Her insides twisted but she forced herself to stay still. He still held her wrist tight in his hand.

'You can control time?'

'I can't control it, I can see it. It's just pictures in my head. I can't even tell the past from the future half the time. '

Pyro allowed her to slip free but something in his gaze warned her to stay put. He threw some sparks from his fingertips and Bella wondered whether it was a threat or an absent-minded habit.

'But you see what's coming, then stop it from happening. That's control isn't it?'

Vixen found it difficult to explain herself to people. They never understood how hard it was to make sense of things; bits of the past mixed up with whatever could or would or should happen next. Sometimes she confused her own past with other people's and sometimes she didn't realise she'd seen the future until the same thing happened twice. She'd only met one person who'd understood her power, and he hadn't been the best of people.

'Quick thinking and split second reactions aren't control.' She stepped around him and he let her go, but she heard him follow after her. She bit her tongue again and wondered how to get rid of him.

'_You're not making sense.'_

She turned on him. 'No, you're just not listening.'

Pyro came to a sudden halt in front of her and frowned, confused. 'What?'

'Shit.' She'd spoken to soon again. 'You were about to tell me,'

'You weren't making sense.' Pyro was almost smiling; his normal smirk hadn't quite taken hold yet. He sparked his flamethrower again, nonchalantly. 'Explain it properly then, and I promise I'll listen.'

She narrowed her eyes and glanced over his shoulder. Callisto was nowhere in sight and they seemed to be alone among the trees. She wasn't comfortable being on her own with Pyro, it made her feel awkward. Unsafe. When she looked back at him he was waiting patiently for her to talk. She would never have thought him capable of that.

Perhaps it was worth taking the chance.

'I can't control what I see, I just see it. When I look someone in the eye or touch them sometimes bits of their lives come to me. Moments that I don't understand, but that mean something to them. Places, people,'

'Names.' Pyro was frowning now and the expression made her guts twist. She remembered the first time they'd met and the memory she'd pulled out of him.

'Names.' She breathed in and smelt dry earth and damp air.

'What's your name?' Pyro sounded wrong; sounded like he cared. When she eyed him for too long he realised his own mistake, but failed to correct it. She could see the indecision in his eyes.

'Isabelle Fox.'

'Fox. Vixen. Gambit come up with that one?' Pyro sounded half-heartedly snide, like he was trying to make up for his earlier slip. Bella smiled despite herself.

'No, it was someone else. Someone more like you.'

Pyro narrowed his eyes, unsure how to take the comment. He breathed in deep and she wondered if he could smell the coming storm as well. She doubted it.

'So what's my real name?' Pyro didn't notice his misplaced use of the word "real" but Bella took note of it, thinking it might be useful one day. 'You must have stolen enough of my memories to know that.'

She felt her insides burn with the accusation. She tried not to let it show but avoided his eye just in case; she didn't want to risk drawing more blood.

'It's John.'

'Close enough.' Pyro's expression was turning sour and Bella felt her muscles tense beneath her skin.

'Magneto wants us for something.' Kid Omega skulked towards them through the trees, but Bella didn't take her eyes off Pyro until he looked away from her.

'Fine.' Pyro turned away without another word and moved off in the direction of the bunker. Bella watched him go and then turned her stare on Kid Omega. His eyes slid over her and his mouth curled into a smile that made her want to tear out every one of his spines and then stick them back in the wrong way round.

'You want something?'

He bared his teeth in a grin and shrugged off the dare. 'Just taking in the view.'

It didn't make her skin crawl the way it might have done a few years ago, but when he turned and followed Pyro she had to stop herself from snapping his unsuspecting neck.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Callisto emerge from the shadows she'd been watching from.

'That was cosy.'

Bella's lips curled and she breathed again, smelling the rain and Callisto's adrenaline. Malice glimmered in dark eyes.

'Don't.' Bella's warning went unheeded and Callisto moved so fast she almost disappeared. Barely thinking, Bella ducked and Callisto's fist arched through the air over her head. Bella elbowed her hard in the face and the metallic tang of blood mingled with the other smells that hung on the still air. Callisto stumbled back; Bella didn't smile. She turned and walked away without another word.

Callisto wasn't going to come after her. Not yet.

_XXX_

An absent-minded smirk curled John's lips as he watched Callisto storm out of the bunker. She'd been seething and bleeding for the entire meeting, her split lip dripping blood down her chin.

'Vixen get the better of you did she?'

Callisto threw a dark, daggered glare his way before stalking away into the forest. John turned and found Vixen standing on the grassy bank above the bunker, a cigarette smoking itself to ash in one hand. Pale, narrowed eyes turned towards him and he stiffened, waiting for the icy feel of her tearing off another piece of him.

'What are you doing?'

Bella exhaled a mouthful of smoke and snuffed her cigarette out on the mossy ground under her boot. 'Waiting.'

'For what?'John sniffed, the smell of chemical smoke sticking in his throat. He swallowed down a cough.

Vixen's smile didn't bring any warmth to her eyes. She stepped down the embankment between them so that they were on the same level. He noticed the careful distance she kept between them.

'Payback.'

He looked after Callisto again. She was out of sight, but he knew as well as Vixen that she'd be back, baying for blood.

'She's pissed. You should watch your back.' His warning came so carelessly that it took him a moment before he realised what he'd said, and another moment after that to wonder why he'd said it. He glanced sideways at Vixen, hoping she hadn't noticed his slip-up. Her pale stare told him nothing. 'I guess you'll see her coming though.' It was a poor attempt to dismiss his own mistake, but Vixen let him have it.

'I guess.' The steel in Vixen's eyes had hardened and John wondered if it was something he'd said. He turned to leave before he could find it in himself to care.

'Where are you going?'

He faltered and glanced back at Vixen. There was the slightest hint of interest in her eyes, which surprised him.

'To free a friend.' He wasn't sure if Mystique was really his friend, but she was one of the few people that he didn't consider an enemy, so he guessed that was close enough.

He made to turn away again but stopped dead when the chill that seemed to cling to Vixen's shadow froze the air out of his lungs.

'Watch your back.' Vixen looked so serious it scared him. He sniffed again and tried to shrug away the warning.

'You scared I'm going to get shot? That's sweet.'

'It's not the bullets you need to worry about.'

John's hand curled into a fist around his flamethrower, but the feel of metal and leather underneath his fingers brought him small comfort. 'Is that foresight?'

Vixen shook her head slightly, 'Just a feeling.'

John swallowed down his uncertainty but it stuck as a lump in his throat. 'Are you trying to be unhelpful, or is it just in your nature?' His self-doubt turned to spite, as it always would.

She shrugged, 'It's a gift.'

'Ya still playin' with fire, Belle?'

Vixen looked almost as annoyed to see Gambit as John was and both of them turned their glares towards him.

'Don't start, Remy.'

Gambit chuckled, flicking a playing card between his fingers. Pyro flinched inwardly at the memory of the king of clubs exploding in his face.

'Ya always were a terrible judge o' character.'

'Pyro, don't you have somewhere to be?' Magneto appeared at the bunker's entrance, shadowed eyes trained on the three of them. John bit his teeth together and turned away again, unable to argue. Deep down inside of him he couldn't help but think that Gambit was right.

_XXX_

The bunker was dark and cold and reminded Bella of the containment facility she'd barely escaped from. Magneto regarded her with prying eyes that betrayed nothing. He leant back in the chair behind the steel desk that added to the air of hostility in the dark place.

'You have no idea what they wanted from you?'

She shook her head, her teeth clenched so tight together that her jaw ached.

'I see.' Magneto considered her for a moment before his cool gaze slipped to Remy. 'Do you know who's behind this?'

Remy's handsome face was creased by the slightest of frowns. It was the expression he wore when he was talking to someone he didn't trust.

'The only man I know who likes ta lock mutants up is Stryker. He's military, although after Wolverine tore his base ta bits I dunno if that's still tha case.'

Magneto's eyes narrowed and his lips curled upwards with sudden interest. 'You're acquainted with the wolverine are you?'

Bella felt her heart shiver as they edged closer to the truth than she would have liked. She knew this story – knew it backwards – although it wasn't James Logan she was telling lies for. She watched Magneto as he watched Remy, wondering how much the old mutant knew about the pair's mutual acquaintance.

'I gave him a helpin' hand once.' Remy was starting to sound cagey.

Magneto smiled his cold smile. 'No doubt he forgot to thank you.'

'He forgot a lot o' things.' Remy's tone suggested that the conversation was over and Magneto seemed willing to let it drop. His interest turned away from the past and he looked back at Bella.

'Stryker's dead. This isn't his dirty work.'

'Best news I've had in a while.' Remy didn't sound much like Remy when he said that and it made Bella feel cold. She dared to glance at him, but looked away when she saw Gambit glowering in the darkness.

Magneto's eyes gleamed with approval, 'That's one thing we agree on.'

Bella breathed deep and bit down hard on her tongue, so that she would remember the pain that came with the lie she was about to tell. It was a way of reminding herself that the truth would be twice as painful. She swallowed her doubts down to the pit of her stomach where there was plenty of space for them and looked Magneto in the eye. It wasn't hard; she was a well-practiced liar.

'I don't know who they were or what they wanted. They used their fists more often than they used their mouths.'

'And you have the bruises to prove it?' Magneto sounded hopeful, although he covered it in undertones of sympathy. Bella bit her tongue; focused on the pain.

'I don't bruise easily.'

Magneto's eyes narrowed and for a moment Bella thought she'd be caught out. Then he smiled a cold, curling smile that made her shiver and he nodded her dismissal.

'Such a talent could be useful when the time comes.' His words didn't make her feel any better.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: This chapter took me a while to figure out, but I've finally got it into order. I realise that at the moment this story isn't spelling things out, but the best story's keep their readers guessing for a while so that's what I'm attempting to do. Things will reveal themselves in time.

Also, I've gone back a cleared up a few discrepancies with Remy's dialogue. His colloquialisms should be more consistent from now on.

**4.**

'This wasn't part o' tha plan, Belle.' Remy struck a match and lit another cigarette. Bella tilted her head back against the tree behind her and closed her eyes. She could feel a headache starting to throb beneath her temples.

'Neither was getting kidnapped, but it got us here.'

'There's easier ways ta get ta San Francisco than in government custody.' Wisps of smoke spilt from Remy's lips as he spoke. Bella watched their ghosts twist away on the still air.

'If we'd left New Orleans when I wanted to they wouldn't have caught us.' Bella touched her temples lightly and felt pain flare up behind her eyes.

'You. They caught you.'

She bit back a snarl. 'And whose fault was that?'

Remy sighed out smoke. 'Ya wanted ta travel tha breadth of tha country on a whim, ya can't blame me for hesitatin'.'

Bella leant her aching head against her knees and heard Remy shift where he was standing.

'Ya got a headache?'

'I'm fine.'

Remy knew when to let a subject drop.

'Okay, so San Francisco was foresight. But why are we wastin' our time with this brotherhood o' evil mutants?'

Bella could hear Remy's scowl in the way he spoke. She sniffed; smelt smoke.

'They're not evil, they're just sick of the world treating them like crap.' She raised her head and swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat. 'I feel like I need to be here.'

'What about me? Do I need ta be here?' Remy was starting to sound bitter.

'You know you don't.' She reached out expectantly and waited for Remy to pass her the cigarette. The taste of smoke reminded her of Crucible and did nothing to calm her nerves. 'You don't owe me anything.'

Remy scowled, 'Someone has ta make sure ya don't get yerself killed'

Bella inhaled another mouthful of smoke before handing the cigarette back. Remy's eyes narrowed as he took it, but he stayed silent.

'Is it because I remind you of her?'

Remy took the time to finish his cigarette before responding. 'Who?' His eyes were dark; warning.

'Belladonna.' Bella regretted bringing it up before she'd even said it, but sometimes she couldn't resist ruining things. Remy gritted his teeth and turned away from her, shoulders taunt, fingers clenched into fists.

'Jesus, Belle, don't start.'

She breathed in deep and felt the pain swell behind her eyes. She was squinting in the sunlight. 'Sorry.'

Remy's gaze was guarded when he turned back to her. 'What's really botherin' ya?'

She bit down on her tongue, but it never worked with Remy. 'Crucible's going to find me.'

Remy stiffened and Bella saw anger flare behind his eyes. 'Ya don't know that.'

'Yes I do.' She avoided Remy's hard gaze, but still saw him bite his teeth together into a sneer. 'So what, yer gonna hide behind Pyro an' hope he cares enough ta keep ya alive?'

Bella bit her tongue so hard she drew blood and the coppery tang she tasted stirred the vixen inside of her. She wasn't going to cower behind anyone. Not this time. This time she wanted Crucible to find her; she wanted to kill him.

Magneto would have liked that.

'I'm not going to hide behind anyone.'

'That's good, because Pyro ain't stupid enough ta risk his neck for ya.'

Bella's teeth clashed together and pain flashed through her skull. She sucked in a breath and tried to stop the world from spinning, before pushing herself to her feet. Even standing-up she was a foot shorter than Remy and for a moment she forgot he was one of the good guys.

'Crucible could burn this forest to the floor in seconds. A kid like Pyro couldn't stop him.'

'You said it, Belle. An' a kid like you couldn't stop him either.'

Something snapped inside of her and she went for him without thinking. A lesser opponent might have been caught off guard, but not Remy; he'd taught her everything she knew.

He made no effort not to hurt her as he twisted her arm behind her back. The vixen inside her snarled.

'Get off me!'

'Snap outta it, Belle!'

'Get off!'

She twisted so violently that Remy had to let her go or risk breaking her arm. She spun to face him but the pain in her head flared-up so suddenly she felt as though her skull had split in two. She hit the forest floor before Remy could catch her.

"_You're not one of us anymore… Same old Bobby, still afraid of a fight… Do we look like we need your help...? You never should have left…"_

'Belle! Bella!'

She came to her senses face down in the dirt, the skin scrapped from the palms of her hands by stones and twigs. She heaved when she tried to breath. Remy dragged her to her knees and she sagged against him, her head sore and spinning.

'What did ya see?'

'Nothing.' She kept her eyes closed and dug her teeth into her tongue. The pain didn't make the lie any easier.

Blood stuck to the back of her teeth. Remy didn't say a word.

_XXX_

"_It's not the bullets you need to worry about." _

John stepped off the wrecked transport and swallowed down the swelling memory of scorched sirens scattered across Bobby's front lawn. Magneto strolled past, ignoring the mess of contorted metal and bloodied bodies he left in his wake. John couldn't stop staring at them.

'We're leaving.' Magneto's voice was cold. John remembered the chill feel of Rogue's fingers sucking the life out of him; remembered the white streaked through her hair for the sake of freedom.

Deep down he realised that perhaps St John wasn't dead after all. Perhaps there was a small, foolish part of that lost boy left in him that had believed Magneto cared. Cared about who he was and who he could be. As they left Raven behind on the transport he realised that Magneto wanted him for what he was; what he could be used for.

'We shouldn't leave her.' John never could keep his mouth shut.

Magneto stopped walking and turned to face him. His eyes were as cold as his words.

'Excuse me?'

John opened his mouth to speak but as he tightened his fists he felt the flamethrower under his fingertips and remembered everything Magneto had done for him. If it wasn't for him, John would still be trapped in Xavier's mansion, learning nothing from teachers who hated him and watching his best friend fall even more in love with someone else.

John remembered that there was no room for attachment here.

'Nothing.'

Magneto stared at him for a moment and John thought he saw something stir in the dark depths of his eyes. Something sad. Then he turned and walked away, leaving John behind him.

_XXX_

This time Callisto was faster. Bella felt he cheek bone fracture as the other mutant's fist collided with her face, and stayed on her feet only because the tree behind her stopped her from falling.

'You bitch!' Callisto struck out with another fist and Bella's head snapped back against the bark. 'Thought it would be funny to let us face those bastards without knowing did you?'

Bella opened her mouth to ask what it was she was supposed to know, but was silenced when Callisto hit her again. The scent of blood spattered onto the air.

She'd seen it coming; seen the fists and blood and bruises. But she'd allowed Callisto to get a head start and now she was playing catch-up. Bella was growing sick of playing games.

She hit the floor and felt Callisto's boot collide with her ribcage. Recently healed ribs cracked and she choked on air. The animal in her tried to hide; muscles and bones shrunk underneath her skin as she curled-up against Callisto's assault. Bella was good at fighting, but Crucible had taught her how to be beaten.

'I should kill you!'

And suddenly Bella was back in that hot, smoky room and Crucible had his hands around her throat.

"_I swear if you don't shut your mouth...!"_

'Hit her again an' I'll kill ya.' Remy's voice was dangerously low. A handful of playing cards burned violet between his fingers. There was fire in his eyes. Bella had forgotten just how terrifying he could be.

Uncertainty made Callisto stiffen. She sneered, but it wasn't convincing.

'I'd like to see you try.'

Remy took a step forward, 'No. Ya wouldn't.'

Callisto's eyes narrowed but she thought better of arguing and turned on her heel. Bella was still curled-up tight. She could see Callisto's boots, but she didn't raise her eyes to meet that dark, angry gaze.

'Come and find me when you want to fight your own battles.'

Bella felt bile rise in her throat as Callisto stormed away and she had to swallowed down the urge to wretch.

Remy hoisted her back to her feet. 'What did ya do ta deserve that?'

She gritted her teeth against the anger that flared inside her and wrapped an arm around battered ribs. 'Nothing.' She spat blood onto dead leaves and felt the forest tip. Her free fingers curled around Remy's sleeve as she stumbled sideways and vommitted.

'Doesn't look like nothin'.' Remy tried to pull her hair back from her face, but Bella jerked away from his touch.

'Get off me.' Her stomach clenched again and she doubled-over. Remy wound her hair around his wrist and watched her wretch-up the little food she'd managed to swallow since dawn. Bella hated herself for it. She raised a shaking hand to wipe her mouth and straightened; felt her stomach churn and her ribs stretch and scream but ignored both.

She stepped away from Remy's touch and he let her hair slip out of his hand. She kept walking.

'Bella!'

The pain was swelling up in her heaving chest.

'Bella wait!'

She couldn't stop. There was an animal inside her that needed to get away; that needed to escape his touch. She was sick of being rescued.

She wanted to run, but she didn't have anywhere to go.

_XXX_

The hatch clanged open and John glanced away from the flames he was twisting between his fingers. A pair of boots thunked down into the darkness and he reclined back in the chair without bothering to take his feet off the desk. Magneto would never make such a racket.

'Can I help you?' It was meant to be a scathing comment, but when Vixen's steps faltered in the circle of sunlight the sneer fell from his face. He'd known Callisto was angry, but he hadn't expected her to get the better of Vixen so easily.

'What happened?' The flames fizzled out and he stood up. Vixen looked like she wanted to run. Her eyes, pale and bright in the halflight, searched for an escape. Anger stirred in his belly.

'What happened, Vixen?'

She didn't answer; just bit her teeth together and looked away. Her nose was bloody and the bruise on her cheek was almost black. Her silence made him grit his teeth and his fingers twitched, still hot from throwing flames. The bloody bruises reminded him of the night he'd left home. His guts twisted with the memory.

He reached out and lifted her chin so that he could look at her properly. His touch was without tenderness; soft but strong. His thumb and forefinger rested on her pulse points and he could feel the blood rushing through her. If he squeezed hard enough...

Fear darkened Vixen's gaze. Something snapped inside him. He jerked her backwards and pinned her to the concrete wall, the heel of his hand sinking into the soft skin of her throat. She choked.

He leant close and bit the words through his teeth, 'I said, what happened?'

The silence made his skin prickle and she shuddered beneath his hold. Pale eyes betrayed her pain and John smiled, because for once he'd won (and Bobby had finally stopped telling him what to do). But then the cold seeped through his fingertips and he found himself lying in the snow by Alkali Lake, not dying but not quite surviving either.

He let go of her without meaning to and Bella gasped for breath. Her legs gave out beneath her, but John had already turned away. He staggered up the steps as quickly as he could, leaving her alone in the dark.

St John hated the dark and he was running scared, like he always did.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

John couldn't sleep.

He glared into the darkness and tried to ignore the way his bones pressed against the stone beneath his sleeping bag. His head hurt from thinking about things he was trying to forget; a low murmur of thoughts that reminded him of Bobby and Rogue sweet-talking in the not-too-distant past.

At first it had been hard not to wonder if they still cared. Now he found it easier to believe they had never cared at all.

A distant rumble soaked through the thick layers of dirt, concrete and steel that separated him from the thunderstorm outside and he flicked a smile like a cigarette lighter. When they'd first retreated into the forest he'd thought to complain about the dark, dank lodging Magneto had chosen for them, but tonight he was thankful to have somewhere dry to lie down.

In his head, he started to count, straining to hear the distant thunder despite himself: two, three, four... It was a habit he'd never grown out of: hiding underneath the covers, counting the miles between him and the raging storm. Hoping it wouldn't come to get him.

Eleven. Twelve.

He remembered Vixen's eyes – wide and pale and terrified – when he'd pinned her to the wall by her throat; a moth with a needle through her heart. He exhaled the poetic thought and tried to shake the memory of trapped creatures from his mind.

Vixen disappeared with the next thunderclap. Twenty-one seconds. He wondered how far he could run before twenty-one seconds was swallowed-up by black clouds and a bad temper.

_Not far enough_, St John thought.

John kept counting.

XXX

The rain licked cold sweat from Bella's skin, pouring in rivulets from the familiar folds of Remy's trench-coat as she pulled it tighter around her shoulders. Together they'd stretched a tarpaulin between the trees like an animal skin, creating shelter from the storm before it started. There was space enough for two, but Bella had abandoned the patch of dry dirt in favour of the downpour, hoping the rain might wash away the memory of fire and fear.

Remy, sweet-dreamer that he was, rolled over in his sleep, unstirred by the storm that surrounded him.

Bella titled her head up towards the sky and picked out the different shades of blue and black that had soaked through the clouds. Heavy rain pricked the cold skin of her cheeks and she closed her eyes, a thousand frozen needles sinking through her flesh. The damp was slipping inside her chest, rattling the bruised bones Callisto had left behind.

The thunder growled and lightning flashed through the thin skin of her eyelids. She opened her eyes and blinked away the rain. Remy stirred in his sleep, but didn't wake; she would have to wait out the storm alone. Sliding out of his trench-coat, Bella left it lying by his side and crept away into the rain. She wasn't afraid of the dark – she saw as well at night as she did during the day. And there was safety in the shadowy silence; even bad guys had to sleep sometime.

XXX

When Remy woke-up, Bella was gone. He turned over and found his crumpled coat where she should have been. At first he thought nothing of it, but after an hour his stomach was rumbling and she still wasn't back. He pulled his coat on, even though it was soaked through from last night's rain, and made his way towards the bunker where everything seemed to happen around here. It was probably nothing. She was probably looking for something to eat or for some clean clothes to steal, but Remy had a feeling deep down in his guts that she'd gone to find something else.

The bunker was open wide when he reached it. He stepped over the threshold and heard voices on the steps below him. One foot in the dark and the other planted firmly in the daylight, Remy listened to what they had to say.

'Class five. More powerful than anything I've ever felt. More powerful than you.' Callisto sounded shaken, which was unusual. Remy clenched his jaw and thought he'd like to shake her up a bit more, but he quenched the thought before it became an idea. He dipped his hand into his pocket and traced the edge of a playing card with his thumb.

'Where is she?' Magneto sounded all wrong. He sounded scared and excited and surprised all at once. Remy leaned deeper into the shadows of the bunker and caught sight of him on the steps below, eyes gleaming and scheming. _Where is she?_ Behind him, Pyro looked lost with no chance of being found. Lost among a group of people who knew more than he did. Pyro always looked lost.

'I can't pin-point it yet. The power source is unstable.'

'Try harder. I need to know where she is.'

'Where who is?' John snapped the words out the same way a child snapped when they didn't understand something. Magneto's face twitched with irritation and he turned his cold gaze on his protégé.

'Never you mind.'

Pyro flinched visibly at the rejection and Remy's lips flicked up into the ghost of a smirk.

'What do you want?' Callisto turned to glare at Remy and he realised that if she could sense some mutant power exploding a hundred miles away, she'd have no trouble knowing that he was standing behind her. He took another step into the shadows and threw his most careless expression across his face. All eyes were on him; he hated that.

'Just checkin' in on Team Mutant. Seein' what's kickin' off.'

Magneto smiled his cold smile. Remy had seen the same expression on the face of every guard at Stryker's base.

'Gambit, perhaps you would like to join me on a little reconnaissance mission?'

Remy saw anger and envy flash in Pyro's eyes and considered accepting Magneto's invitation just to piss the younger man off. But then he remembered Bella and thought better of it.

'Nah, I think I'll pass.'

'A man like you shouldn't sit in the shadows whilst others fight for glory.'

'We fightin' for glory now, as well as freedom?' Gambit's lips twitched upwards when he saw irritation flicker in Magneto's eyes.

'Where's Vixen?' Remy's guts clenched at the words and he glared at Pyro. For his part, the younger man didn't look as though he'd meant to draw attention to Bella's absence. He looked as though he actually wanted to know. Remy narrowed his eyes, suspicious.

'Yeah, where is Vixen? I've lost her scent.' Callisto sounded as snide as ever. Remy wondered if maybe he'd misjudged which members of this Brotherhood he should worry about, but then he remembered Crucible and knew he shouldn't let Pyro slip out of his sights so easily.

'I'll bet she hasn't lost yours.' He saw Callisto clench her jaw when he met her gaze and wondered if she remembered his promise to her the day she'd beaten Vixen bloody. If she gave him just one excuse, he'd prove he was no liar.

'I do hope your charming friend hasn't seen fit to leave us. Anyone who knows the whereabouts of this camp needs to keep silent, or be silenced.'

_Ya touch her an' I'll silence ya alright. _Gambit bit back that retort, because Magneto wasn't Callisto and he thought the older mutant's word was as good as his own. His fingers gripped the playing cards in his pocket and he felt his vision darken.

'Bella doesn't run.'

'Good. Callisto, I want you with me. Let's go and find our old friend.' Magneto passed Remy on the steps and even though their shoulders didn't knock the threat hung heavy in the air. 'Pyro,' Magneto turned suddenly and fixed Pyro with a look that stilled him before he could take a step, 'You can help Gambit to find his missing friend. It would be a shame to lose her so early in our game.'

The older mutant turned and disappeared into the sunlight. Callisto spared a sneer for the two of them before turning after him. 'Have fun.'

Remy saw Pyro fingers curl into a fist around his flamethrower as she left. He turned his glare on Remy as soon as she was out of sight.

'You sure she hasn't run?'

'Why would ya care?'

Pyro shrugged as though he couldn't care less, and it would have been believable if his shoulders hadn't been so stiff. 'I don't, but I don't fancy killing her either.'

Unlike Magneto, Pyro did knock shoulders with Remy as he passed, but the action seemed desperate; desperate to prove that he didn't give a damn about anyone or anything. Remy turned darkening eyes after him as the younger man ducked out of the bunker and left him in the shadows.

He'd always thought Pyro was ready to kill anyone.

XXX

John stomped through piles of sodden leaves and kicked up sprays of wet earth, wishing he had the guts to turn around and kill Gambit where he stood. It wouldn't even be hard. Without Vixen, Gambit wouldn't see it coming. He'd be dust before he even thought to throw the King of Clubs John's way.

But John was gutless and they both knew it.

They'd been searching for Vixen for hours and there was still no sign of her. Pyro had accused Gambit of holding back information more than once, and every time he'd received a scathing remark in return. Gambit was a good liar, even when he was shitting himself. Pyro could tell the older mutant had no idea where Vixen had slinked off to. The thought terrified him.

'Where the hell is she?' John kicked a fallen branch and spattered his trousers with mud, before clenching his fist tight around his flamethrower and cursing himself for speaking. He shouldn't care so much. He shouldn't care at all.

Behind him, Gambit stayed silent and when John's rage had abated and he trusted himself to look, he found the older mutant watching him with dark, narrowed eyes. He waited for that loathed Cajun drawl to berate him for losing his temper, or mock him for his awful tracking skills, but after a moment Gambit stalked on past him and disappeared into the trees up ahead.

John was stunned. He could feel his heart shaking in his chest and his fingers trembling inside the fist he'd curled them into. After a moment of silence he turned and took a step after Gambit, but then the anger came bubbling back up his throat and in an attempt to stop it he bit through his tongue. He jerked his hand to his mouth, shocked by how much it hurt and choked on the taste of blood.

Bracing himself against his knees, he breathed heavily through his fingers and tried to regain control of himself. He could taste blood and salt and spit on his lips and it made him feel sick.

'Fuck.' He took a long, steadying breath and knelt down on the damp forest floor to try and stop his head from spinning. It wasn't right, feeling so angry and hated and wrong.

He wasn't wrong. What they were doing _wasn't_ wrong. It was right and he was right and to hell with everyone who thought any different.

He swallowed down the metallic tang of his own blood and stood up, wiping his face with his sleeve. He wasn't going to lose himself. Not now.

He'd lost all sight or sound of Gambit, so he turned back the way they'd come and started towards the bunker. Let Gambit blunder through the forest after the fox they were never going to find. John was sick of searching. He'd wait for her to come to him, and if she didn't then who cared? He wasn't going to kill her for running.

He'd been running his whole life.

XXX

The smell of San Francisco was strong as Bella stared at it through the fine mist of rain that had fallen upon her as she'd reached the edge of the forest. The bridge was a red shade in the fog of evening rain, but she could still make out its sweeping arch, reaching across the river to connect land with land.

Something had pulled her this far, but now she could see the way in she'd lost the urge to leave. She could hear cars streaming along the highway, across the river and on to the madness of the city. She could smell the tang of petrol fumes diluted on the wet air and her stomach churned at the thought of all those people.

She'd be surrounded.

She remembered the last city she'd been in. New Orleans had never felt particularly safe, but Remy had known the place better than he knew himself. He knew every nook and cranny where they could escape prying human eyes. It hadn't saved her though. She'd known they were coming and she still hadn't run, too afraid of being alone to leave Remy's side. She'd left New Orleans as little better than an animal, battered and bound, waiting for a better man to save her.

She needed to stop waiting.

Turning away from the mist of a bridge, she stalked back beneath the trees, sheltering herself from the rain and human eyes alike. She went where her nose took her: straight back the way she'd come.

By the time she'd reached the camp the grey sky was fading into darkness and most of the Brotherhood had secreted themselves away into makeshift dens and shelters. She could feel suspicious eyes upon her, but it didn't mattered. She wasn't important enough to risk getting wet for.

Magneto's bunker was nothing more than a trapdoor slicked by moss and rain water, but she found it with deft feet and sharp eyes. The handle was rough and rusty beneath her palm, and left blood-coloured stains on her fingers as she heaved the heavy door open. Underneath the wet earth the air was thick and warm. Bella began to shiver; she'd been soaked through for so long that she'd forgotten to feel the cold, but now it came flooding back, stiffening muscles and skirting across skin. She hurt all over.

Her breath turned to smoke before her; there was something hot and angry deep down in this dirt. Her muscles tightened painfully into weariness, but she followed her ears rather than her instincts. Fire drew her through corridors she couldn't navigate alone and at the end of the twisted labyrinth she found Pyro slashing black scars across stone walls. She watched his handiwork with weary fascination – remembering how fire felt against her skin and feeling fear twist inside her. But the warmth kept her from leaving.

When Pyro finally stopped he doubled over in the sudden darkness that followed dying flames, his breathing loud and horribly human. His whole body shook and he clutched his side as though nursing a stitch. Bella breathed deep and inhaled the smell of smoke. The flames hadn't touched her, but she was warmed by the heat they'd left behind them.

Pyro opened his eyes and stared at the scars left behind on cracked walls. Then he turned towards the doorway and stared at her instead.

"_What's your real name, John?"_

_Flames flutter into untrained fingers._

"_Pyro."_

John blinked away the memory she had twice stolen from him and failed to summon the surety he had offered Magneto only a moment before. A question lingered in his eyes, but he wasn't brave enough to ask it out loud.

'I'm not afraid of you.' The words slipped off of her tongue so quietly that she knew he couldn't have heard them. The whispered answer to a silent question. She inhaled the smoky air and remembered saying those words before. She'd been lying then and Crucible had soon knocked the truth out of her. She half expected Pyro to do the same thing, but he looked away from her without saying anything.

She turned and slipped away into darkness; the bruises Pyro had left around her throat were already turning yellow.

XXX


	6. Chapter 6

6.

Bella had always known that Remy was going to leave. She known it from the moment they'd met; him all charisma and charm, her all bad attitude and bruises. They'd both had their secrets, but that was one she'd kept to herself. The fact that she knew he wouldn't stay. And after everything, she couldn't blame him.

Ever since the day she'd chosen to follow Pyro away from the ashes of the containment facility, she'd been waiting. She'd seen the creeping doubt in Remy's eyes and she'd known then he wouldn't forgive her; not for making the same mistake twice. Remy had always been something of a hypocrite.

And she was right, in the end it was Pyro who brought them to the breaking point.

He'd tramped towards them early that morning, in an unreadable temper, and told them that they were coming with him, but only because Magneto said they had to. Bella had been willing, Remy had not.

They'd walked through the forest in silence, an unspoken argument strung out on the air between her and Remy, and a dark cloud hanging over Pyro's head. Bella hadn't faltered when they'd crossed the Golden Gate Bridge into the city, even though her stomach had tied itself into knots. And she hadn't felt comforted, even with Remy at her shoulder. She'd felt cold and alone, and her head had ached horribly.

It still ached now, as they slipped through the crowds of protesters that surrounded the treatment facility. The hatred was thick and loud and Bella felt as though she was drowning. The only things keeping her afloat were Pyro up ahead and Remy following behind. The anger of others rushed through her blood as if it were her own and she had to try hard not to pounce, animal-like into the fray.

She couldn't tell at what point she lost Remy, but when she turned to find he was gone she stopped, stunned. The crowd hushed for a moment and she shivered.

'_Just don't expect ta be chasin' my shadow for tha rest o' yer life, Belle.'_

Her guts twisted, terrified, and like a lost child turned to where she'd last seen Pyro pushing through the crowd. But she'd lost him the moment she'd turned to look for Remy and alone in a sea of strangers the panic started to set it. Pushing as boldly as she could through the heat of bodies, Bella scanned the area for a vantage point, her pale gaze settling on a fire escape that ran up the side of the building behind the picket line. It was crowded with protestors, but she would surely be able to find her lost boys from up there.

The stealth she had momentarily lost to panic was swift to return to her and it took less than a moment to reach the foot of the steps. She pushed her way up to the first landing point with a roughness that could only be excused in the crush of an angry mob. She'd intended to climb higher, but then her skin went cold and she saw the clinic burst into flames, just as the containment facility had when this storm had first claimed her. No one else reacted to the sight or sound or smell of the fire, but Bella had to catch hold of the railing to keep from falling. She slid to her knees, thinking she'd hit her head, but realising a moment later that the pain had subsided with the premonition. She dragged herself upright and gazed out at the crowd, all shouting and cursing at the still-intact clinic. It didn't take her long to find him. Pyro was pressed close to the railings that kept the protestors apart from those seeking the Cure, locked in confrontation with another boy about his age. Bella thought she'd seen him somewhere before, but it wasn't until he turned his back on Pyro and shoved his way into the crowd that she realised where from. Distracted, she forgot to shout out at Pyro as she'd intended to, but he wouldn't have heard her anyway. Even if he had, she was certain he would not have listened.

This time, the explosion was not silent and shouts of protest were replaced with screams as people stumbled suddenly over one another, at first in shock and then in panic. Only Bella failed to dive back down the staircase towards the pavement. Instead, she leapt over the railing and plummeted to the ground, landing with catlike ease. She sprang forward through the crowd, taking only a moment to find the place where Pyro had been.

He hadn't been stupid enough to hang around, although the boy he had been arguing with – who was really more of a man now that she could see him closely – was staring wildly through the crowd that shoved by him. He was searching, as she was, for someone long gone. He caught sight of her instead and when their gazes locked her skin prickled with cold needles and she found herself watching John walk away, slower and with less certainty than she imagined he had this time.

'_You always do as you're told?'_

John's old friend stiffened and stumbled a few paces towards her, but she turned and lost him as quickly as Pyro had done, because avoiding the truth was in her nature. Instinct drew her towards the narrow alleyway that ran along the side of the building with the fire escape. It was in view of the ruined clinic but not so close that security would be immediately drawn there; it was where she would hide if she was running from something.

Sliding between the walls she found Pyro just as she'd expected to, only Remy had found him faster.

'How many people do ya think ya jus' killed?'

Pyro snorted at Remy's disgust, but Bella wasn't convinced by the sneer he was trying to hide behind. When he failed to come up with an answer Remy grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him up against the wall. For a moment, both seemed to have forgotten that they could fight with more than fists.

'Ya like bein' a murderer?'

Pyro wasn't fighting Remy's grip the way Bella had expected him to. He just stood there, heaving in breath like a drowning man and staring at Remy as though he hadn't understood the question. When he finally spoke, he sounded like someone trying to justify an action they weren't quite sure of.

'Self-defence isn't murder.' He looked, to Bella, like a boy walking away from the only friend he'd ever had.

'That wasn't self-defence!'

Finally Pyro seemed to wake-up and he wrenched himself free from Remy's grip. 'Not self-defence? Everyone in that building would like to see the lot of us wiped off the face of the earth!'

Remy threw a fist against the wall and the entire building shook with violet energy. 'That doesn't make it alright!'

The shouts from the street had faded and only the distant yells of security guards and the wail of approaching sirens disturbed the sudden quiet that filled the alleyway. Bella breathed in the smell of smoke and sulphur and choked on the taste.

When Remy spoke again he'd stopped shouting. 'Why?'

Pyro sneered at the question, but to Bella he still looked like a kid trying to find an excuse. 'Because Magneto told me to.'

'Do ya always do as yer told?' The words were frighteningly familiar and seeing what was about to happen without the need for foresight, Bella finally sprung forward, putting herself between Remy and Pyro's fist of fire.

'Don't.' She'd meant to shout but it came instead as a whisper. Pyro glared at her, hot and hard and hating her for getting in the way. The cold scrunched-up her insides up again – because these things often came in threes – and she found herself staring into Crucible's eyes, waiting to feel the burn that would follow the slash and snap of his fist. Pyro froze where he was; the flames extinguished themselves.

After a moment, Remy turned away. 'Come on, Belle.' He didn't notice that she wasn't following him until he reached the end of the alleyway. He turned back, but only halfway. 'Bella.'

She was still staring at Pyro and he was still staring at her. Somewhere inside she knew this was the moment she'd been waiting for. It wasn't the way she'd expected it to be.

'I'm not leaving.' She looked away from Pyro but avoided Remy's eye, too afraid of what she'd see there. She couldn't stand it: his constant desire to run mingled with his guilt ridden need to stay. And, just this once, she thought she should be the grown-up.

'It's your move, Belle.'

Bella let out a breath and felt something inside her break. He wasn't going to fight for her, and even though she'd seen it coming it didn't mean it hurt any less. She shut her eyes tight and nodded just once. When she opened them again, Remy was gone.

'You'll regret that.' John's tone was simple – matter-of-fact. He knew, because he'd felt the same; she'd seen it in his best-friend's eyes.

XXX

'Go and get your stuff.' John couldn't quite believe what he was saying and Bella obviously couldn't either, because she was staring at him as though he gone mad.

'Why?'

'You wanna sleep by yourself tonight?' He hadn't thought about that before he'd said it and outloud it sounded wrong. He decided not to correct himself because that would make him feel like even more of an asshole than he already did.

'I can look after myself.'

'Bullshit.' John was still shaky from what had happened; the protest, the fire and Bobby all spinning around in his head like some kind of twisted carousal ride. Vixen hadn't helped with her prying eyes, clawing all sorts of memories out of him and replacing them with bits of her own nasty past. He'd been swallowing down the urge to vomit the whole way back to the bunker, shivering from shock and something else. Something she was hiding behind those pale, terrified eyes.

And still he was letting her in. It was as though he couldn't help himself. And he'd be damned if she was going to throw that back in his face.

'Go and get your things.'

'No.'

He turned around and took a step forwards, glaring down at her. 'Do you have any idea of what these people will do to you when they find out he's gone?'

'I know exactly what they're capable of.' She knew what he was capable of as well. She'd seen it happen. Burning building, screaming people; all smothered in anger and hatred and regret. It was the regret that really got to him. He couldn't help but wonder if Rogue had been inside that place when he'd blown it to Hell.

He took a breath and stared at Vixen. She wasn't Rogue – nowhere near – but there was something about her that kept him interested. Something that made him want to keep her alive. For now at least.

'Then you know you need someone to watch your back.'

'And you're going to do that for me are you?'

'I don't see anyone else offering.' John turned and stomped down the stairs into the bunker. He knew that if Vixen had an ounce of sense in her she'd follow him. And if she didn't it was her own damn fault if she got killed.

His hands curled into fists and he felt the heat of his blood pulsing underneath his palms.

XXX

Bella lay silent and stiff in the dark, listening to the sound of Pyro breathing. He wasn't asleep - his breaths were too short and shallow - but he hadn't said anything when she'd bedded down for the night a foot from him. He must have known she'd come in the end; she was too scared to be alone.

She dared to glance sideways and through the dark she could see him staring at the ceiling; counting shadows. She looked away and breathed deep. The cell smelt of dust and dirt, but it was warmer and drier than anywhere she'd slept for a long while. Pyro had probably burnt the dampness away.

'Where did you come from?' His voice made her jump, and she wondered again how he could catch her off guard so easily. He'd sounded uninterested, but she got the feeling that was just the way he talked. Pyro didn't ask questions he didn't want to know the answer to.

'Chicago.' She could have evaded him like she usually did, but she'd grown tired of fighting.

'It's a long way back to Chicago.'

'I'm not going back.' It was the only thing she was sure of: she would never, ever go back to where she'd come from. Nothing could be worse than that. 'What about you? Where are you from?'

Pyro was quiet for a long time. So long that Bella guessed she wasn't going to get an answer. She rolled onto her side and closed her eyes, trying to sleep. She was so tired that she thought it might find her if she waited long enough.

'It doesn't matter anymore.'

She opened her eyes and stared at Pyro's shadow.

'No one wants me there. No one ever wanted me.' Pyro rolled away from her and fell silent. Bella found it hard to believe his words; hard to believe that he could look past the pain in his best friend's eyes. She wondered if he'd looked past it the day he'd walked out into the snow and left Bobby behind him. But then she remembered Remy and thought that perhaps it wasn't so hard. All she'd had to do was close her eyes.


End file.
